Connections
by Island Of the Ships
Summary: Winry is a normal girl who has it all, friends, popularity, everything. But when Central High receives a strange transfer with a dark purpose, her life will be changed forever by gangs, new outlooks, love, and newfound Connections. MANGA based.
1. Disoriented

_I know, I'm terrible, starting another new story when I have so many unfinished. What can I say? I've had this AU in my head for awhile, and it needed to come out._

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_Summary__: Winry is a normal girl who has it all, friends, popularity, everything. But when Central High receives a strange transfer student with a dark purpose, Winry's life will be changed forever with gangs, drugs, new outlooks, love, and newfound Connections._

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_**Disclaimer: If I owned FMA, it would suck and most likely be a yaoi/yuri shojo right now.**_

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**Chapter 1- Disoriented**

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Winry Rockbell stepped out of her mom's car, glad to finally be back at school. She walked towards Central High's front entrance, shivering in the cold. She was starting the second semester almost two weeks later than the rest of the students, due to flight delays.

"Stupid blizzards," she cursed silently under her breath, as she made her way to the office.

Walking in, Winry ignored the adjoining rooms, and instead rotated to face the small desk on the side. Winry flashed a smile at the Assistant Director, and asked, "Can I have a copy of my new schedule please?"

The lady nodded, returning Winry's smile as she printed out the schedule.

"Here you are Ms. Rockbell. If you hurry you can still get to the gym before first period. So you know, today is an A day."

Winry thanked her, and headed to the gym, weaving through familiar hallways, and running through the courtyard. When she reached the door to the Fine Arts building, Winry was surprised to see a short, blonde kid cut in front of her and pull open the door.

Before Winry could snap at his rudeness or examine him too closely, the boy held the door a moment longer for her, and when Winry grabbed it, he hurried into the warm building without giving the popular girl a second look.

Winry stood there holding the door, and followed the blonde kid through the hallway, her already fragile mood tossed out the window. As she walked though the hall, she examined her schedule.

_A Day (1__st__-4__th__ period)_

_1- German: Sheska_

_2- Shop: Garfiel_

_3- History: Armstrong_

_4- Science: Marcoh_

_B Day (5__th__-8__th__ period)_

_5- Language Arts: Tajada _(AN: that means Chopper in a random language)

_6- Gym: Armstrong_

_7- Film as Lit: Scar_

_8- Math: Curtis_

_Homeroom:__ Curtis_

To her surprise, the short boy into front of her didn't head into the small gym where the freshman stayed, but instead walked into the large gym that the juniors waited in. Winry silently followed the boy into the gym, and forgetting about him, scanned the bleachers for her friends.

She hadn't been searching long before a shout of "Winry!" emitted from the top row.

Looking up, Winry saw her best friends Riza, Rose, and Paninya come running down the steps.

Winry smiled, and her wave was cut off by all three slamming into her at once.

"Hey guys," Winry said weakly.

"You're finally back!" exclaimed Rose.

"We have SOO much to tell you!" Paninya said, pulling Winry up the steps to where their other friends waited. More exclamations of "Hey Winry!" and "You're back!" followed the trio as they walked. Winry tried to smile and wave at the people who greeted her, but she was held up by her friends' own exclamations.

"Hey Winry, why'd you get back late?" asked Riza, being the most levelheaded of the group. Winry sighed, knowing her friends had been imagining some amazing tale explaining her lateness.

"It was snowing so hard my flights couldn't leave. Remember what happened a few years ago with that one airline? Well this year, Briggs got so held up with snow, that when we got there to change planes, we had to stay for about two weeks until the weather let up," she finished lamely.

Her friends were staring at her wide-eyed, and before they could push another barrage of questions upon her, she held up her hands and said, "Before you start, lets get to the top."

Eventually, the girls reached the top bleacher, and Winry collapsed, smiling at her friends. Roy, Maes, Gracia, Riza, Jean (Havoc), Maria (Ross), Rose, and Paninya had been her friends since freshman year, and the group - had quickly risen to new heights of popularity.

After explaining to the others why she had started school late, Winry asked, "So what happened while I was away? Anything good?"

Riza and Roy smiled at each other and Winry gasped.

"No. Seriously?" Winry turned to Roy. "You finally asked Riza out! That's great!"

The couple grinned. Maes started riffling through his backpack, and before he could start throwing pictures of his little sister in her face, Winry hurriedly changed the subject.

"So what else is new?"

The others exchanged dark looks, and they lowered their voices conspiratially.

"We got a new guy," Rose said, in a low voice.

Winry's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Who is it?"

"His name's Edward Elric. He moved here in the middle of winter break, and no one knows why. Apparently, he was in some kind of horrible accident that involved his entire family. Don't go near him. He's hangs out with the goths, and is just really weird," Riza said, obviously passing on well-traveled information.

Winry was confused. "Why, what's wrong with him?"

"They say he used to be in a gang before he came here. Also, you know Envy?" asked Roy, adding on. Winry nodded.

Envy was a goth guy, and belonged to the gang "The Seven Sins". He was civil enough, but always cold and fierce. If his group didn't ostracize themselves as much as they did, the number of fights Envy won daily might've given him some popularity. Now, he was a violent freak.

"Well, first day back, Envy walks over to Elric, and starts talking to him. From the reaction _I_ got from the new guy (AN: he was flicked off), I expected a fight to start. Instead, they've been hanging out this whole time, like their best friends. It's creepy. Like we said, don't go near him," Roy finished, a warning in his eyes.

Winry was still a bit confused but shook the feeling off. Her friends were probably right.

Just then, the juniors were released to go to their first period classes, and the group headed down the bleachers to exit through the fine arts building.

Winry looked over her shoulder and caught sight of the new kid disappearing out the opposite door.

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"What's your first class Winry?" asked Riza, walking beside her.

"German, same as last semester. My first period classes are all year-longs," said Winry.

She liked German, it was a pretty cool language to learn. It was different than what most other people were taking, and she had a lot of friends in there. The language itself was easy too learn too, the words were so similar.

"Sucks. I have Gun Club. Whose your teacher?" said Riza casually.

"Gun Club?" asked Winry incredulously. She knew her friend was good at archery and had interest in firearms, but there was a class?

"Yeah, pretty crazy huh? Apparently a bunch of girls got together a few years ago and lobbied the teachers into making it a club. The teacher, Kimbley, is a real pyro. The class is crazy. You have to have a study hall first period, and get signed permission to do it," Riza smirked. It was well known that her parents used to be in the military, and so would approve of anything weapon-related.

Winry shook her head. "That's crazy."

Riza abruptly stopped and turned to her friend. "Hey, um, Winry? Shouldn't you be heading the opposite direction? I thought you were going to German?"

Winry's eyes widened as she took in her location. "Crap! I'm used to you being in the class next door. Bye Riza!" she called as she left her friend behind, arm pumping. _Damn second story classroom,_ she thought, dashing up the stairs.

She was two doors away when the bell rang, and burst through the door just as the buzzing sound died away.

"Sorry I'm late," Winry gasped, standing in the doorway.

Their teacher Ms. Sheska (or as she preferred the German students to call her, Frau Sheska) looked up from her enormous pile of papers and smiled warmly.

"Winry! Good to have you back!"

Winry smiled tentatively back at her teacher. "Thanks. I'm sorry I'm late."

"It's fine, you came in just after, and I won't count you tardy on your first day back. Take a seat."

Winry smiled at her excited teacher gratefully and started walking over to her old seat next to Rose, when she realized Maria (Ross) was sitting in it.

She looked around, and saw that there were no seats by any of her friends, or anywhere else, for that matter.

Ms. Sheska, seeing her problem, said, "The seat just behind you hasn't been taken yet. You can sit there."

Winry turned slowly, and sunk down into a desk in the back row, one desk away from being closest to the door. There were two empty desks on either side of her. She knew one was used for stacking papers, so no one sat there, and from the way her teacher said it, someone probably sat at the other desk.

Ms. Sheska was about to start talking when the door burst open and_ he_ rushed in.

The guy was short and blonde, his long hair hanging in a braid, bangs swinging erratically as he stood, panting, in the doorway. He wore a black short-sleeved shirt, dark leather pants, and ominous-looking boots. He had on a long dark red coat, and underneath it, Winry could see black, arm-length gloves, with metal plates over the knuckles.

"Sorry I'm late! Traffic…was terrible…getting here…took awhile," gasped the guy, while trying to catch his breath.

To Winry's surprise, her teacher smiled, saying, "That's alright Edward. Don't let it happen again. Take your seat."

The guy (Edward) half-smiled gratefully, and dropped his bag unceremoniously next to the desk next to Winry's, and half-sunk half-dropped into his seat. Leaning over to get out some paper, Edward looked up, just now seeing Winry for the first time.

"Who're you?" he asked bluntly.

Winry couldn't answer, because for the first time she could see Edward's eyes, and it was hard to look away.

They were large, golden, almost luminescent, and filled with emotions. On the surface there was annoyance, but she could tell that underneath there were layers of suppressed thoughts and sadness, all carefully and easily hidden, as if hiding his thoughts was a routine.

Suddenly Winry's connection with the molten gold broke off as Edward rolled his eyes and slumped down on his desk, head resting on his folded arms.

"Whatever," he muttered under his breath.

Quickly, Winry recovered, and stuck her hand out.

"Sorry about that, I'm Winry Rockbell! What's your name?" said Winry hurriedly, flustered by the abrupt change of mood in the other blonde.

Edward titled his head up to glare at Winry's outstretched hand.

"I'm Edward Elric, the freaky new kid. Don't get all polite and shit on me, because I'll just ignore it," said Edward, ducking down to take some notebook paper and a pencil out of his black canvas messenger bag.

Winry was taken aback. Being popular since freshman year, she hadn't ever been just dismissed like that before. Trying her best to brush it off, Winry lowered her head and tried her best to stay cheerful as she began again.

"So where're you from?" she asked politely, trying to start up a conversation.

"Do you even care?" Ed shot back, not looking up from whatever he was currently doodling.

Before Winry could respond, Ms. Sheska made her way to the front of the classroom and began the lesson.

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By the end of class, Winry was thoroughly confused, had no idea what had been learned while she was gone, and was convinced that Edward was the most self-contradictory person she'd ever met.

The entire class, he had simply taken one page of messy, basic notes, lounged in his chair, had doodled through most of the board drills, was oblivious of his surroundings, was slightly lost whenever his name was said, and yet still got every one of his answers right, and apparently got the highest grade a quiz they'd taken during Winry's absence.

First period was over at 9:10, and Ms. Sheska let them pack up and mill around at 9:05.

Winry went over to the other side of the class and started talking to Rose about what they'd learned. To her relief, Rose was able to explain the stuff she'd missed pretty well.

As she was talking, Winry noticed that Edward had gotten up, packed, had his bag on his shoulder, and was leaning against the doorway alone, eyes closed, waiting.

When the bell finally rang to leave, Ed was the first out the room, the door flying open in his wake, as he made a sharp right turn and disappeared down the hallway.

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_okay, Central High is going to be a __lot__ like my school, so here's how stuff is gonna work:_

_-there are A and B days, where you have half your classes one day, and the other half the next day. Classes are longer, but you get an extra day to do homework._

_-theres 2 buildings, the main building (where the regular classes are), and the fine arts building (it has the gym, the theater, the cafeteria, and the band/orchestra halls), connected by a courtyard._

_-the students have homeroom every Tuesday after the second period of the day (2__nd__ or 6__th__). The homeroom consists of a mixture of all 4 grades, and because it only happens on Tuesday, classes are shorter._

_And btw, there actually __is__ such thing as a Gun Club. We don't have it, but it's offered at another real school. So don't sue me for unrealistic-ness. _

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_so now that all that crap is cleared up, tell me what you think, and enjoy the story!_

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	2. Changes

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**Chapter 2: Changes**

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Confused at her new enigma, Winry put thoughts of the new student out of her mind and tried to talk to Rose and Maria, hiding curiosity with anger at her unsaved seat.

"I mean, seriously guys. When they let you pick your own seats, at least have the presence of mind to remember _your best friend_! Honestly," ranted Winry, obviously not liking being estranged from the rest of the class.

Rose and Maria exchanged guilty looks.

"We're sorry Winry, but you just _weren't there_! And people were saying you'd moved, and no one knew what'd happened to you-"

"I could've just been sick! Ever think of that! Now I'm stuck, friendless, at the back of the classroom, next to the very guy everyone's been telling me to avoid!" Winry nearly screamed. She had _friends_ dammit, why'd she have to be stuck with the jerk that didn't have any of his own?

"Oh yeah, you're sitting next to Elric aren't you?" smirked Rose. 

"He's actually not too bad. I got drafted into being his partner in English, and it was fine. If you ignore the height, the guy's slightly cute," grinned Maria evilly, her voice thoughtful. 

Winry threw up her hands in frustration, and stormed into shop, ignoring her friend's pleas for forgiveness. 

_Why am __**I**__ always the one who gets stuck with some friendless jerk? Ugh! Whatever…_

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The day progressed uneventfully, 2nd period moving along nice, and when the bell rang for 3rd period, Winry set off to science, her mind filled with machine-filled happy thoughts.

Winry didn't have far to go to get to her room, so when she entered the room and found a classmate in her seat, she was able to ask her teacher what table she sat at and get settled before too many people arrived.

Winry walked over to the lab table at the side of the classroom, and put her bag on the low shelf surrounding the room. She sat down in her chair, waiting for the other members of her table.

After waiting about a minute, Roy walked through the door, and sat down across from Winry, smiling at her.

"Hey Winry! Like the group arrangements? We got to pick them this 6 weeks, so we grabbed you," said Roy, hand smoothing his short black hair.

Winry smiled back at her friend. "At least _someone_ did. The same thing happened in German, and Rose completely forgot about me!"

Roy laughed, dark eyes dancing.

"Shut up," muttered Winry, reaching across the table to smack him upside the head with her binder.

"Hey, don't be hitting Roy. Retribution _sucks_," said a familiar voice. Winry and Roy looked up to see a guy with long dark hair and glasses drop his stuff at their table and sit next to Roy. 

Maes grinned at Winry. "Firsthand experience was a bitch."

Winry laughed, and Maes took the opportunity to dig through his backpack. 

"Hey Winry, I'm not sure if you saw these yet but, AREN'T THESE PICTURES SO CUUUUTE!" sqee-ed Maes, brandishing his photo album in Winry's face like a weapon. "My little sister turned 3! Isn't that great? This is the party!" 

"Yeah. Sure. Great. Cute. Roy. Help," said Winry, glad the picture-wielding obsessive wasn't sitting next to her.

"Hey, Riza had to leave second period, she wanted me to tell you- Ow!"

Roy rubbed the back of his head as three figures walked by their table, heading for the back of the room. Winry twisted around in her seat, then stared for a moment at what she saw. 

There were three guys that had joined a girl sitting on their table. The girl was Asian had shoulder length black hair tied in a ponytail, pale skin and narrow eyes. She wore a black hoodie, a long black skirt with a white cloth belt, and was perched on the table using her chair as a footrest. On the shelf behind her there was a discarded red and black mask, and she was sitting protectively next to one of the other guys.

Her charge was the normallest of the four, his long dark hair pulled back from his face to reveal himself as another Asian. His eyes were overly thin and rather shifty, and only his left eye was opened completely. He wore a black t-shirt and jeans, and had a dark blue-gold jacket tied around his waist. Under the jacket, the end of a metal pipe stuck out, hanging on one of his belt-loops.

The tallest of the three guys was slender, had waist length black hair with a greenish tint, which hung down in large odd-angled spikes. He wore a skintight black sleeveless shirt with a turtleneck, long black arm-socks, dark boot cut jeans with homemade rips, and black sandals. On his head was a headband with three red circles, and armbands had similar circles. The rips of his jeans showed of a tattoo of the ouroboros on his upper thigh. 

-

The fourth was Edward Elric, and he had apparently picked Envy, Ling Yao, and Ran Fan as his friends. 

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_**Edit:**__ I changed an OC to Ran Fan, since it kept bothering me that I used her. Sorry for any confusion for you people who've read this chapter already. _

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_Izumi is going to be rather explosive next chapter, so be warned. _

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_This story now has a companion, though the roles may end up reversing later on. It's name is "_Outcast_", and tis from Ed's POV, starting about 2 weeks earlier than this story. So just as a warning, from now on there may be some stuff you guys get left a bit clueless on if you don't read the sister fict, because I kind of mix them together in my head. So read them both!_

_**Edit:**__ Sorry for the slacking off on both these ficts, but I've been busy with school and other shit. _Outcast_ will either be updated soon or deleted, but this one __will__ stay alive._

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_Reviews are loved; a disciple's feedback is Jesus._


	3. Back in Rountine? No

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**Chapter 3: Back in Routine? – No.**

_They were right. They were right. I don't believe it. They were __**right**_

Winry's mantra of denial kept pounding through her head as they took notes, barely comprehending anything Dr. Marcoh was telling them about atomic theory and the periodic table. She just kept repeating her denial and looking over her shoulder for confirmation.

But whenever she looked, Edward was always sitting with the same three freaky people, and always next to a known gang member.

_Well damn. I mean, even though I was brutally ignored, he didn't seem like a __**gang member**_

Winry kept going over the very few things she actually knew about Ed, then stopped in surprise.

_Wait, why do I even care? He's just some new kid who sits next to me- Oh shit, he sits next to me!_

Winry broke off her internal laughter at her habit of obsessing over stuff that didn't matter, when she remembered that in two days she was going to have to sit next to this guy who had made himself best friends with a bunch of gang member in the first two weeks of him switching schools.

_He's going to kill me in my sleep,_ Winry thought morbidly.

Just then, Roy waved a hand in front of her face, jerking her out of her own little world.

"Hello, Winry? You still alive?" asked Roy jokingly.

Winry blinked, still in a bit of a shocked daze. "I'm…I'm going to be killed in my sleep," she muttered.

Her friends burst into laughter, their manical roars causing the entire class to stare at them in confusion. Winry glanced over at Edward's table, and saw the group looking their way. However, unlike the rest of the class, Envy said something to his friends, and they stopped staring at the popular kids' laughter and took the advantage to talk to each other.

When Roy finally let loose his last chuckle of mirth, Dr. Marcoh was standing next tot heir table, arms crossed, his disfigured face showing frustration. "Mr. Mustang, Mr. Hughes, was there any particular reason you decided to interrupt my class?" asked the science teacher with obvious sarcasm.

Roy shook his head. "Nothing in particular sir. A random thought popped into my head, and when I started laughing, well…you know how contagious laughter is…"

"I'm sorry, but the look on everyone's face as they were all staring at Roy was hilarious sir. Was hard to suppress the giggles!" Maes grinned in agreement.

"Giggles huh? I mean, I heard the rumors but I didn't think you were so childish about your masculinity that you'd have to suppress your _giggles_," drawled a smooth voice from across the room.

Winry turned and saw Envy smirking at Maes, his arm sitting casually on the back of Edward's chair. The group of outcasts erupted into laughter, most of the unpopular kids joining in nervously.

Roy scowled, face contorting in fury. "Way to talk about femininity Envy, with you feeling up on Elric over there."

"Enough!" Marcoh shouted over the chorus of laughter. "Mustang, Envy, see me before you go to lunch. The rest of you, be quiet and pay attention."

Winry turned to face the front, but not before seeing Envy, his face a pale mask of rage, edge away from Edward, removing his arm from the back of the blonde's chair. Winry couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that the new kid had a look of pure "WTF?" on hid face.

When the bell rang, Winry slowly picked up her bag, not ready to leave the room. Roy sighed and walked over to Marcoh's desk, as Maes slidled out the door, leaving Winry alone at her table.

Glancing over her shoulder, it looked like Edward was doing the same thing, leaning against the lab table, glancing over at where Marcoh was lecturing Roy and Envy every few moments. After a moment, Winry walked over and sat on the table next to him, her dislike of being alone surpassing her earlier "he's going to kill me" thought. Surprised, Edward turned to her questioningly.

"Weren't you in the last class?" he asked, obviously confused.

Winry tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Huh?"

"Am I like, leaning against your seat or something? If I am, then I'll move," Edward said quickly.

"No, I was in the last class, I'm just waiting here. What about you?" she asked, trying not to make it _incredibly_ obvious that she was friends with Roy (whom Edward probably hated).

Edward shrugged. "Waiting. What I meant earlier was, why are you over here? As in, next to me? Wouldn't that give you a bad image or something like that?" Edward asked bitterly, voice laced with accusative sarcasm.

"I already sit next to you in German, so my reputation can't be hurt too badly," Winry joked nervously.

Edward turned to look at her, startled. "What? You do? Wait," a wave of comprehension swept over the blonde's face. "Riiight, you were the one who was forcing the intros. The anti-new person. Got it."

Edward was silent for a moment, nodding his head, and processing what he'd just remembered. Winry sat still, glancing every so often at the lecture progressing on the other side of the class.

Suddenly, Edward's head snapped back to scrutinize her again. "So, you're Winry, right?"

"Yeah," Winry replied. "And you're Edward, yes?"

Dry laughter met her response. "Yeah, I'm Edward. Like I told you before, I'm the one you should stay away from, the freaky new kid, that emo guy who hangs out with the creepy people, the insane one. That'd be me," Edward remarked matter-of-fact-ly. "And you're Winry, the popular one everybody worried about the first few days, then forgot about once the next week begun."

Winry was about to respond (_My friends wouldn't forget me!_), when Envy started walking towards the two of them, obviously pissed off.

"Um, yeah, see you in German Edward," she muttered, and tried to follow Roy out before being stopped the Envy.

"What were you doing over here?" asked Envy, clearly pissed.

"Um, I was just talking to Ed while I waited for Roy, that's all," Winry said hastily, avoiding the tall teen's gaze.

"Whatever, come on Edo," drawled Envy tiredly, pushing past her to pick up his bookbag.

Winry got out the door before the two guys could, and hurried to the cafeteria before the lines closed.

Once she got out of the lunch line, Winry looked around for her friends, relieved when she saw Riza waving at her from across the cafeteria. Walking over, Winry collapsed next to Paninya.

"Hey Winry, you're late," remarked Rose, from across the table.

"Yeah, sorry. Marcoh kept Roy, and I was waiting for him, but I wasn't paying attention, and left after him," Winry rambled, not wanting to tell her friends that she'd been talking to Edward.

"Cool. So, have you heard…"

Winry relaxed and let the usual routine of trivial talk wash over her. It was refreshing to be filled in on the latest gossip, and argue over what style of jeans was better for what situation. Their chatter was meaningless and trivial. She loved it.

Focusing on something other than the fact that her parents were getting sent off to work in a war zone soon, or that she would soon be helping in a prosthetics surgery, or her increasingly mind-numbing obsession with the enigma that was Edward Elric, was just so much easier to do when it was about something mindless and trivial.

_yes, yes, I know, the ending was weird. And I am terribly sorry for the update lag, that was dreadful of me. This story kept popping up in the back of my head, so I finally sat down and typed up this chapter. Again, I'm terribly sorry for the long time between updates. _

_I also apologize for the absense of izumi, I know I promised her, but I couldn't get her in. I guarantee her appearance next chapter though._

_Even if it is to complain, please review. I like knowing whether my story sucks or not. It's hard to tell what people think of my story when I have hundreds of hits, but only like 5 reviews. So please, give me __some__ form of feedback._

_If you are still reading, I give unto you a giant moose (for you moose-haters, I give you a box of mints)_


	4. Third Encounters

Again, terribly sorry for the wait, everything's just been extraordinarily crazy

_Again, terribly sorry for the wait, everything's just been extraordinarily crazy. Usually I have at least a bit of the next chapter started, but this time I didn't and it kinda killed plot creation. But anyways, now that school's ended for the summer, and I've got most of my other ficts updated, I should have more time for this guy._

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**Chapter 4: Third Encounters**

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The second day was better.

The first two periods went by quickly, and eventually the bell rang for homeroom.

The homeroom stayed the same all four years (the teachers thought the kids would bond if kept together-wrong!), so Winry hurried from gym to Mrs. Curtis' room, glad that her first class of the year with the sparkly creepy gym teacher was over (Armstrong had kept hugging her in joy of her return).

She walked in with Rose, both of them laughing about hoe exceedingly _creepy_ Armstrong had been, and took their usual seats at the end of the middle table. People entered and left, as some gathered up their math supplies and walked out of the room, while other came in the door ready for an ambush. Winry acknowledged people quickly, knowing who from her year would be in the class. Ling was there, Greed was there, Rose was with her, Kaval (a sophomore from last year) was there, Mei Chan (another sophomore) sat next to him, everyone was here except Envy, Roy, and a few lost freshmen.

Winry relaxed and began chatting animatedly with Rose about what they'd been doing in homeroom.

"Well, we've started this weird community service thing last week, so you'll probably have to get caught up on that this week. We have to vote on what charity to do though. Envy suggested cleaning a cemetery, can you believe that? Think how utterly creepy that would be, walking around cleaning off dead people," Rose ranted, prattling off.

"You're right, that'd be really weird," Winry supplied quickly, privately thinking that it was actually a cool idea.

"Of course, most people immediately went along with it. They've actually found a place within walking distance now, Edward just _had_ to tell everyone about Oakwoo-"

"Wait. Edward's in our homeroom? As in Elric? As in the new guy?" Winry felt like screaming at her.

"Yeah, unfortunately. You should've seen Greed the first day back, it looked embarrassing," Rose gossiped, talking pretty much to the air as Winry had gone into a semi-catatonic state.

_Oh shit ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit, oh shit!_

"Winry are you okay? Breathe girl breath. It's not the end of the world," Rose said, rubbing her friend's back. Winry blinked, and sat up straight, focusing on the clock.

_Maybe he's not here today, he got in an accident right? Well maybe he isn't here._

When it got to a minute before homeroom started, Winry relaxed, convinced in her theory. Roy had walked in a few minutes ago, and the three were talking casually when the door slammed open and Edward stormed in.

The blonde looked absolutely furious with something, and in addition to his already imposing attire and state of being, was downright scary. Edward walked quickly through the room, and went to the opposite side of the room from Winry, at the back table. Ling and Greed, who were in front of him, quickly started mouthing questions towards the doorway, as Envy walked in. Winry hoped that the Sin was good with damage control, as he raced to the back of the room, sat rest to Ed, and began muttering to him frantically.

Winry turned back from her openmouthed stare of horror, and saw Roy and Rose acting as if nothing was wrong.

"Did you guys see that?" she demanded.

"Yeah," they said, acting as if this happened all the time.

"Why aren't you guys scared? He looks like he's going to murder someone!" Winry practically screamed at them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Edward stiffen and settled his gaze on the back of her head.

_Fuck, now he's mad at __**me**_.

Roy yawned, subtly tilting his head around so that he could see the new student. Turning quickly back around, his face became serious.

"Damn, he is madder than usual. I guess it was more than a height comment this time," the dark haired boy remarked.

Winry raised an eyebrow confused. "Height remark?"

Rose giggled, before butting in. "Yeah, he totally loses it whenever anyone says anything that even implies that he's short. Edward's probably sensitive about it, but it's amusing to watch. Next time Roy says something about Ed being tiny, watch his reaction. It's hilarious."

"Okay then," Winry said, pretty much ending the conversation when Ms. Curtis came in.

They were indeed doing a community service thing, and were voting. It was anonymous, so Winry ended up voting for the grave cleaning, since the other ideas were idiotic.

Then Ms. Curtis decided to put them into teams.

"Okay, who's had experience with tending graves?"

Winry raised her hand. One of her chores used to be making sure her grandfather's grave was tended, and with military doctor parents, she knew to respect the dead.

"Ms. Rockbell? All right, you're going to be on the research team. This team finds out how exactly we should go about doing the clean up. We don't want to violate any laws or restrictions, and more important, we don't want to mess up any of the graves. Anyone else? Ah, Mr. Elric, you've tended grave's before?" Ms. Curtis asked, curious. Winry also turned around, wanting to hear the answer.

Edward looked uncomfortable with so many people staring at him, so he answered lamely, "Yeah, I have."

"Okay then, Mr. Elric, you and Ms. Rockbell are the research team. Next time we meet, you two get to teach us how to clean the cemetery without damaging anything. So, the next team is…"

Winry looked back at the front of the room, frozen. She would have to work in close quarters with Edward, _again_, while he was in a homicidal mood.

Fabulous.

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_Short yes, but it has plot development. You guys like?_

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_I'm probably using way too many events from my life as plot bumps, but whatever, I'm going to do what's comfy._

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_View-ray everybody! They make us authors feel warm and fuzzy!_

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_Also, Outcast has been updated as well, so read on. Next chapter of this should be out soon._


	5. Close Quarters

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**Chapter 5: Close Quarters**

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Once Ms. Curtis had finally put everyone in groups of two or three, the class made it's way to the computers, all with about twenty minutes to perform their tasks.

Winry walked, terrified over to where Ed had already logged on, and sat hesitantly down next to him.

"Hi," she squeaked.

Edward looked over at her, and shrugged. "'Sup?"

"Um, not much. We seem to be meeting up a lot," Winry said, forcing herself to laugh a bit. Edward still looked furious, though the anger was tempered a bit by boredom.

"I guess. So," Ed turned and looked directly at her, his molten gold eyes meeting her blue ones. "how do you suggest we go about cleaning these graves?"

Winry opened her mouth, but no sound came out. His eyes were hypnotic, capturing her.

"Uh, um, well I always just swept the headstone gently, and uh, picked up any, uh, t-trash that I f-found around the grounds, and stuff," Winry stammered, cursing the beauty of his eyes as well as her own stupidity.

Edward shrugged, looking away. "That's good enough for a group of students I guess. If some of us have brooms and dusters, while others have trash bags, we could cover a lot of ground."

Winry blinked, then a random thought popped into her head.

_I want him to look at me again._

"Agh! No!" she cried, shaking her head furiously, trying to get the unwanted thought out.

Edward looked up at her, eyebrow's raised, expression turning from suppressed anger to amusement. "What? Was my idea that bad?"

Winry flushed red, shaking her head franticly. "No, no, it wasn't you." _Yes it was._ "A random thought popped into my head, and I didn't like it." _Well it's true._ "Sorry."

Edward gave her a slight bemused smile, anger slowly fading from his face. "Oooooh-_kay_ then, that was extremely weird. What was it?" he asked curiously.

Winry's blush turned a deeper shade of red. "You don't want to know," she muttered quickly, looking away.

Ed's face almost imperceptibly darkened, and his voice was cold and level again as he spoke. "Let's get back to work then."

Winry quietly murmured her agreement, and she quickly logged on to the computer next to Edward's. The two didn't talk for the rest of homeroom, except to remark on something they found. Edward had resumed his cold anti-social demeanor, and Winry was in the process of wondering why exactly she regretted getting his shell back up.

_Apparently, Edward is actually very pleasant to be around, and very easily amused, but obviously he doesn't let it show much, and just when he was acting natural around me, I SCREWED IT UP!! And why the _hell_ do I care so _damn_ much??_

"Agh!" Winry exclaimed, and banged her head on the table. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, _idiotic_ me! Ugh! Idiot, idiot, _idiot_!"

Winry continued her verbal self-hatred for a good five minutes, until she realized that Edward, and about half the class, was staring at her.

She froze, a deer in the headlights, and jerkily turned back around to her computer, face frozen in horror.

_Oh shit._

"Hey, uhhhhh, Winry? Are you okay?" came a voice.

Winry quickly pulled on a hysterical smile, and stared straight ahead at her computer. "Yes," she breathed. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You were banging your head really hard on the table just then, and a fabulous bruise is going to swell up there soon, so are you absolutely sure that you're right in the head?"

Winry turned towards the voice and saw Edward smirk/grinning at her.

"Or are you just always prone to self-mutilation?" he asked sarcastically.

Winry hesitantly returned the smile, and was about to reply when suddenly Rose was by her side.

"Are you alright Winry? What happened?" her friend asked franticly.

"I'm fine," Winry assured her, glancing at Edward. The smile had dropped off the blonde's face, and the wall was up again as he concentrated on his computer screen.

"Are you sure? You were being pretty crazy? It looked like you'd gone mad temporarily," Rose exclaimed, worry interlaced through her voice.

"No Rose, I'm fine. It was just a weird thought, and something on my screen. I didn't mean to go crazy," Winry assured her, lying through her teeth.

Rose narrowed her eyes, and rounded on Edward. "You did something to her didn't you! What the hell did you do Elric?"

Winry's mouth dropped open in shock. "Rose! He didn't do anything!"

"Don't lie for him Winry, it's clear that he scared you. Now what the hell did you do, freak?!" Rose screamed.

Edward closed his eyes, and leaned back in his seat, sighing with annoyance. He swung back up, much like a pendulum, and opened his eyes, eyebrow's raised, and pissed off annoyance reading all over his face. "What incentive would I have to do anything to _her_? What would I gain from that?"

Rose clenched the air with her fingers, looking like she was about to strangle something. "Answer the damn question Elric, what the hell did you do to Winry?"

Edward's eyes narrowed, and he glared at Rose. "I didn't fucking do anything, bitch, now go fuck yourself."

Rose opened her mouth to scream at Edward again, but Winry quickly interrupted.

"Please, Rosie, he didn't do _anything_. I'm _fine_, okay. Don't make a big deal out of this," Winry soothed, frustration easing her out of the shocked state she was in.

Rose let out a breath. "If you say so Winry, but," –Rose turned back to Edward- "I'm watching you."

Edward let out a humorless laugh. "Whatever bitch. Just fuck off."

Rose turned around, _hmph_ed, and stalked back over to her own group. Winry, still staring at her friend with open-mouthed disbelief, turned back to Edward.

"Edward, I am _so_ sorry about that, I've never seen her do anythi-"

"I have," Edward said shortly, turning back to his monitor.

Winry followed suit, turning back to her computer, and mourning the loss of what could've been a nice conversation.

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_You like? _

_I hate how apathetic Rose's character is portrayed, so I gave her the shouting match instead of Roy. Also, a girl had to do that._

_More Edo/Winry action next chapter!!_

_Review, critique, don't flame, give any sort of love._

_Oh, if this story sucks, or is mediocre, or you find any aspect of it to not be to your liking, please tell me. Don't worry about hurting my feelings, just please tell me._


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